In the operating room, and in other locations where manual work is being performed by an individual on very fine objects, in deep cavities, or in hard-to reach places, often it is impossible for others to observe the operations being performed without interfering with the movements of the worker. In particular, with regard to surgeons, it is often desirable or even necessary for students or for those assisting in the operation to observe the surgery. Because most surgery is conducted in deep body cavities or in other hard-to-reach locations, it is impossible for an observer to properly view the surgery by looking over the surgeon's shoulder. In addition, these observations are best conducted at a remote location, to avoid interfering with the surgeon. One prior art solution to this problem is dolly mounted or overhead cameras, to allow remote viewing, but even these devices often cannot provide the observer with an adequate view of the operation.
Surgical operations and other fine work performed in hard to reach places require adequate illumination of the work area. This is especially true if the operation is to be viewed by others at a remote location by means of a television or other type of camera. Adequate illumination of deep cavities and the like can only be provided by a light source under the control of the surgeon.
In recent years, surgeons generally have used head mounted systems both to provide the illumination required, and to provide observers with an adequate view of the surgery. One example of such a combination illumination and camera system is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,051,534 in which the focusing and aiming optics of the camera are remotely controlled, while the surgeon controls the location of the illumination by movement of his head. This system has certain drawbacks, because the mirrors which reflect the image into the camera lens are located on top of the surgeon's head, and do not provide an accurate view of what the surgeon is seeing. This can be a problem, especially where the operation is occurring in a deep body cavity, or in other hard-to see locations. The surgeon has no direct control over the movement of the mirrors for the television camera, and the television mirrors have limited adjustability, which restricts their permissible field of vision. The light source of this prior art device can only be adjusted by loosening and tightening a mounting screw, so that the surgeon can quickly adjust the location of the light source only by moving his head.
Another example of a head mounted illumination and viewing apparatus is that found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,257 assigned to the assignee of the present application. This system overcomes many of the problems found in other prior art systems such as that described above, by placing the viewing lens as well as the illumination lens between the surgeon's eyes, so that the remote viewer sees essentially what the surgeon is seeing. However, one drawback to this system is that the illumination lens and the viewing lens ar positioned one above the other and both are fixedly mounted in a single housing. Also, the center lines thereof are nearly parallel. As a result, when the surgeon is working in a position in which his face is very close to the operation site, when the light source is positioned to properly illuminate the surgical site, the viewing lens is centered on a location spaced from the site, and the remote viewer is unable to see clearly what the surgeon is doing. At best, the surgical site appears on the periphery of the area being viewed, and not in the center of the picture. Conversely, if the surgical site is centered on the viewing lens over such short distances, the site may not be adequately illuminated.
Surgical head lamps without attached television cameras also are well known, and examples are found in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,651,301; 3,645,254; 3,745,993; 3,830,230; 3,951,139; 4,102,333; 4,290,422; and 4,516,190. Head mounted cameras without illumination systems also are well known, and examples are found in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,395,731 and 4,516,157.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a head mounted illumination and camera assembly in which both the illumination source and the viewing lens can be independently and easily manipulated by the surgeon so that the surgical site can be both adequately illuminated and clearly viewed at a remote location.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a head mounted illumination and camera assembly which permits easy replacement of the viewing lens and/or illumination source.
It is another further object of this invention to provide a head mounted illumination and camera assembly in which the elevational angle of the viewing lens and the elevational angle of the illumination source are manually adjustable either independently or in unison.